Dorm Space a Challenge as Dillard Prepares for January Return

By Rebecca Roussell
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Hilton New Orleans Riverside Dillard has reserved 500 double-occupancy rooms at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel.

Dillard University suffered an estimated $400 million in damage when Hurricane Katrina's wind and floodwaters ravished the campus, forcing officials to arrange off-campus housing so that classes could be resumed in January.

Classes are scheduled to begin Jan. 9, but the loss of dormitory space in particular has presented a major challenge for lodging the returning students.

University officials announced Dec. 10 on the campus Web site a decision to "assume residency at the Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans for the spring semester." It was one of two possible housing solutions announced to students recently. The other was a cruise ship.

The university has reserved 500 double-occupancy rooms in the downtown hotel for faculty, staff and students returning for the spring, said Maureen Larkins, director of communications for the university.

"We have space for everyone to come back," Larkins said. Housing will be available to students who lived in the dormitories, and also those who were off-campus residents and need housing as a result of the hurricane, which made landfall on Aug. 30.

There were no details on the amenities or dining options available to those returning, or on the cost of room and board. Larkins said the university's Web site would be updated with this information in the coming weeks. Nor were enrollment figures available, she said.

Dillard anticipates opening as a much smaller university, after losing a semester and being forced by the financial difficulties to cut back its staff. Forty-three tenured members of the 132 full-time faculty will remain, Larkins said.

The university will have a "new beginning" in January, President Marvalene Hughes told parents and students at a series of town hall meetings across the country. Hughes and other Dillard officials made stops in at least 12 cities starting Nov. 17.

At the first meeting, in Baton Rouge, parents and students came for answers about the school's future. They had not gathered since Katrina and flooding from broken levees closed the campus, scattering the Dillard students and faculty.

Dillard has entered a partnership with Tulane University, located in an area of New Orleans that was mostly spared Katrina's wrath, Hughes said. Classroom space will be available to Dillard, Xavier and Loyola students and faculty at Tulane's main campus and two other locations in the metropolitan area.

"Never before have I learned the meaning about how special fair Dillard is," Hughes told the standing-room-only crowd at Our Lady of the Lake College in Baton Rouge.

About 200 people are working to clean up the campus daily, Hughes said. The buildings in the back of the 55-acre campus were the most damaged, including the first floors of the three residence halls. The campus was also damaged in the front, with two buildings taking in water. A residence unit burned down. Fundraising for the recovery effort has been almost nonstop.

Housing arrangements for returning students were not complete in time for many of the town hall meetings, where Dillard officials discussed two options. One was housing on a cruise ship that university officials planned to tour in Mexico in late November. The other, described at that time by Freddye Hill, vice president of campus life, was housing students in downtown hotels and sharing dining services with Tulane.

Online registration began Nov. 7. A two-session school year is planned, giving seniors the opportunity to finish and those who did not attend this fall the chance to catch up. The first session is to end in early April. The second begins in April and wraps up in June, with a proposed graduation in July, Dillard officials said.

All financial aid awards are intact and will still be available to returning students, especially those who are from the New Orleans area, said Cynthia Thornton, director of financial aid.

Student reaction to the first forum was mixed.

"They should have waited until they were ready to tell us exactly what was going on," said Patrice Coleman of Oakland, Calif., a senior majoring in mass communication. Coleman is at Louisiana State University and plans to return to Dillard.

"We are still unsure about where we are going to live. We don't even know where we are going to have our classes and they didn't say too much about when we are going to graduate," she said. "When I left, I felt as unsure as when I got there," Coleman said.

Officials plan a June graduation; new details frequently appear on the university Web site. The administration is relying on the site to get announcements to students scattered across the country.

After the Baton Rouge town hall meting, Jack Scott Jr., a senior business management major, said coming back home is his main priority.

"It is going to take time for it to get really back to normal," said Scott, who took courses at Southern University in the fall semester. "Just because it is my last semester, I really want to go back, and of course it is back home."

The town hall meetings are a great idea, he said, even though every question cannot yet be answered.

"They are trying to work with us, so hopefully they can answer the questions that we have in the future," Scott said.

Rebecca Roussell, a Dillard University senior displaced by Hurricane Katrina, is finishing this semester at Southern University. She plans to return to Dillard in January.

Posted Dec. 14, 2005